Sounders FC's season ends with 1-0 OT loss to Houston

HOUSTON — What began with such a bang almost eight months ago, on that magical night in downtown Seattle when Sounders FC's inaugural season opened in grand victory, ended ever so abruptly Sunday with Seattle's 1-0 overtime loss to the Houston Dynamo in the Major League Soccer playoffs at Robertson Stadium.

Seattle's first taste of the MLS postseason, the topper on its memorable and successful first campaign, was gone in that hard-to-swallow kind of way.

Brian Ching's goal in the 96th minute, during the first overtime period, did it for the Dynamo, which ousted Sounders FC from the MLS Cup playoffs in the second leg of the teams' Western Conference semifinal series.

Seattle was unable to come up with an equalizer over the rest of the first overtime and the full 15 minutes of the second session. The Rave Green's last significant play of the season was a red card issued to frustrated defender James Riley in the 120th minute.

"I thought it was going to head to penalties [kicks] the way it was going," Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid said. "Crap happens, and there's nothing you can say."

All either team needed was one goal to win after a hard-fought, physical and defense-driven scoreless first game in Seattle on Oct. 29, and more of the same Sunday in Game 2. The Dynamo, two-time MLS Cup champions, got that goal, and its best playoff scorer came through.

Ching, a former Gonzaga and pre-MLS Sounders standout, fired a shot off a failed clearance by Sounders FC sub Roger Levesque in the goal box, not waiting for the ball to come down for a bounce. The velocity of the blast was too much for Sounders FC goalkeeper Kasey Keller to have time to react.

"I went to clear it. [The Dynamo's] Brian Mullan jumped up, didn't expect him to be there. Kind of bounced off my foot off to him and then up for Brian Ching," Levesque said. "At the end of the day, I need to clear that. Put the ball out of bounds, I need to do something to get it out of the box."

The orange-clad crowd of 27,465 went crazy, except for the 100 or so Sounders FC supporters in a corner of the stadium who stood stunned. Sounders FC had one good chance to tie moments later, but Freddie Ljungberg's shot was deflected over the goal by Dynamo goalkeeper Pat Onstad.

Not surprisingly, the game needed extra time. The Dynamo and Sounders FC were the two least scored-upon defenses in MLS in the regular season and played to a 0-0 draw in the first leg of the series.

Nate Jaqua had an opportunity to put the first goal of the series on the board after some good ball movement by Sounders FC in the 54th minute, but his left-foot attempt went just wide.

Seattle's defense, in need of adjustments after a shaky first half, tightened up in the second and hardly allowed more than a sniff of the net to the Dynamo throughout regulation time.

The first half wasn't Seattle's best of the season, as Houston's Dominic Oduro was a major headache for Sounders FC's defense. Oduro, a forward, had three very good scoring chances, including one shot that hit the post in the 23rd minute. Another went wide of the far post in the 30th minute.

"It's hard, because we were used to being at our house [Qwest Field] every 15 days," forward Fredy Montero said. "Seeing the stadium so full, dreaming that we could reach the final because it's in Seattle. But the team did the best it could. It left everything on the field and now we can't fix it, only think about what's coming next year."

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com

DYNAMO 1, SOUNDERS FC 0 (OT)

Seattle	0 0 0 — 0
Houston	0 0 1 — 1

First half — None. Second half — None. Extra period — 1, Houston, Ching 9, 96th minute. Goalies — Seattle, Kasey Keller; Houston, Pat Onstad. Total shots — Seattle 10, Houston 15. Shots on goal — Seattle 3, Houston 5. Total saves — Seattle 4, Houston 3. Fouls — Seattle 16, Houston 16. Offsides — Seattle 0, Houston 4. Corner kicks — Seattle 5, Houston 4. Yellow cards — Marshall, Seattle, 24th; Chabala, Houston, 44th; Cameron, Houston, 96th+; Riley, Seattle, 120th. Referee — Jorge Gonzalez. Assistant referees — Nathan Clement. Anthony Vasoli. 4th official — Mark Geiger. A — 27,465 (32,000).

LINEUPS

SEATTLE — Kasey Keller, James Riley, Freddie Ljungberg, Fredy Montero, Steve Zakuani (Roger Levesque, 67th), Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, Nate Jaqua, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Tyrone Marshall, Leo Gonzalez.

HOUSTON — Pat Onstad, Brian Ching, Brad Davis, Ricardo Clark, Geoff Cameron, Dominic Oduro (Luis Angel Landin, 82nd), Mike Chabala, Stuart Holden, Andrew Hainault, Brian Mullan, Bobby Boswell.